For example, you put yourself through university by studying hard and working full time. Then someone says, you should thank god for giving you the strength. Like wtf do you mean, I busted my ass day in and day out but I’m supposed to thank god for it?
I’m irritated with everything people do all the time.
This statement is beginning to irritate me.
I was extremely irritated this week when the office catholic, who is quite happy to lie, cheat and steal, told me I’m going to hell unless I accept his god.
Biggest hypocrites I’ve found were in the years I spent at church. Not all of course but there are a ton of people who believe they’re allowed to do whatever they want as long as they repent and they look down on people outside of the church as if they were filth. Hell, even within the church, they had a superiority complex with “fellow worshippers”
Emotional pyramid-scheme.
I’m not sure “irritated” is the right word. If God is the reason good things happen, I have to ask why THE FUCK my daughter got a brain tumor at age 10. If that was part of God’s Great Plan then he’s a FUCKING ASSHOLE, and next time you pray you can tell him that for me.
Does anyone else feel irritated when deeply religious people
Yes
Religion is, and always has been, a tool used by those in power to legitimize the status quo.
Its primary purpose is to shift responsibility for actions onto fate and thus divert attention from the fact that it is people who are responsible for these actions. In this way, even the most unfair and exploitative conditions can still be portrayed as just: the king by the grace of God, the kingdom of heaven that awaits the patient after death, hell that punishes the greedy, making it unnecessary to hold them accountable in this life, and so on.
This also works in reverse to strip people of the self-confidence that they can achieve things through their own efforts: Thank God for the food he has put on the table, for your success, and for everything else, because he has given it to you in his infinite generosity - don’t even think of making demands.
In this sense, religion provides a justification for hierarchies in society. It cements the status quo in the interests of the powerful.
Hence: People who do not question this narrative - which serves their own exploitation - but have made it the purpose of their lives are quite strange, because they are thereby harming themselves.
I am agnostic and even I still don’t agree with what you say here. Religion was likely used initially to form communities around. Heaven and hell are just ways to motivate people to participate in the moral code of the community.
There are likely some people that truly believe in God but I think many people probably just believe that religion gives them a common community to work towards.
Now, in recent times, I have no doubt that there are those in religion that use it for exploitation. But that is no reason to write an entire group off as bad. We would likely call that bigotry were we on the receiving end.
Religion certainly plays a regulatory role within society - historically, for a very, very long time. It also promotes values such as charity, empathy, and humility as virtues. The problem, unfortunately, is that this system of order is frequently abused in practice - just like the legal system, whose guidelines are often derived from religious values. So it is not religion itself that is the problem, but the way it is abused.
A good example of this is the ultra-conservative Christians in the U.S.: Since this ideology is being exploited politically to promote a ruthless form of hyper-capitalism that serves only a tiny elite, there is no room for values such as humanity and empathy, which the Bible clearly prescribes as positive values. Thus, inhuman policies are legitimized in the name of God and Jesus, though only those aspects of religion that enable the propagation of “in-groups” and “out-groups” are utilized. On the one hand, this serves to convey a sense of community, and on the other, to deny all rights -including the right to exist - to anyone who does not belong. Of course, this could no longer be reconciled with Christian ethics, but since this is not about ethics but about power, these schizophrenic movements are nevertheless very successful.
This logic is present in nearly all forms of religious extremism - from ultra-Christians to fanatical Muslims and Jews to Hindus and so on. These fundamentalist movements always have one thing in common: they are not interested in good, peaceful coexistence, but solely in the dominance of one group over another, which is because they are political movements whose leaders use religion merely as a means of power to legitimize their inhumane ideology.
But please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here: It is not religion itself that is the problem, but the way it is abused to pit people against one another and distract them from who actually benefits from the corresponding policies.
This effect is by no means limited to religion: the same can be achieved, for example, by emphasizing nationality - in this case, concepts such as “foreign infiltration” serve as a backdrop of fear, so that the corresponding out-group can be denied basic rights, even their humanity.
I think you’re both right. They are right about religious institutions in class societies. You use the word “initially” and are right about religion in those very early, classless societies called “primitive communism”. When people started using agriculture, classes arose with material surplus, patriarchal structures formed to manage inheritance of that surplus and over some time, the violent suppression of oppressed classes by the ruling class was taken up by various institutions that coalesced into states. Religious institutions fit in here. They became tools of oppression or were oppressed and destroyed themselves. Those that survived fell in line. And their task in class societies is to produce hegemony. In a revolutionary moment, religion has sometimes been adapted to serve liberation and that could happen again.
It’s important to make these two distinctions when talking about religion. First, between individual believe and organized religious institutions. Even a deeply religious person can still condem all religious institutions. And second, based on the societal context: religious institutions at what time, in what society? Religious believes of members of which class? Do they help to liberate or oppress? Do they urge to accept circumstances or to fight for freedom? Both is possible.
There’s also a third distinction that comes up often: between orthodoxy (for example what’s written in holy scripture) and lived historical reality.
Personally, I’m an atheist, but I have religious friends who I respect deeply.
If I got mad at peoples lack of critical thinking I wouldn’t get very far in a day. But they are insane.
“Thank God for curing my cancer!”
“HE FUCKING GAVE IT TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!”
Not only is it insane, it is also incredibly egotistical of people to think that whatever god might exist will help them when it didn’t lift a finger to prevent some of the most horrible things that have happened in history; the trans-atlantic slave trade and the holocaust being prime examples.
And, because I can already feel a religious person typing “bUt ThOsE wERe dOnE By huMaNs” yes, how observent of you, but accordng to your primary (and only) source for your god’s existance, it did intervene when humans were building a big tower. And also killed all the babies of Egypt because their leader refused to listen. And I’d argue that the holocaust and slave trade are much worse than humans building a tower.
“It was to test my faith!”
And what about all the children with cancer that were in there getting treatment with you?
They say God, but they mean luck. If you translate it like that in your mind, it starts making sense.
Thank god the tornado destroyed my neighbor’s house and not mine.
Thank god those kids in poor countries are starving and not me.
Thank god for killing kids with cancer.
They never attribute to god the things that a god could prevent, or in fact deliberately willed to happen, but they’re sure happy to strip someone of their accomplishments and effort by attributing them to god’s will.
They’re terrifying.
My entire childhood was spent in churches… Catholic, Baptist, and Assembly of God… and their schools.
They all had one thing in common, they were bat-shit crazy. I was horrified every day, adulthood and leaving them behind was a magnificent relief.
This is a huge part of why America is such a shithole, in my opinion.
… and of course they don’t pay taxes in the USA, with far greater tax relief than any secular non-profits… so we all get to pay for their ridiculous drek, whether Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mormons, even Church of Scientology, the taxpayers carry them all.
Omg! God told me I would see this post! Praise him!
Yay well done God. Great job you did there. Keep it up, you’re doing so well.
Which god?
The one true god.
Its a philosophical crutch, putting your reason for living or being a decent person in the hands of an other entity is easier than taking that responsibility yourself.
I guess the emotion I feel when some theist is mouthing off or drawing irrational conclusions is pitty. I do try to not be judgmental, but its hard some days.
Reminds me of a couple of joke/stories.
- A flood came and an owner was on top of the house. A boat came by to save him and he said “That’s okay, God will save me”. Then a helicopter came by to save him and he said the same thing. He drowned and went to heaven and asked God why he didn’t come save him and God said “I sent you a boat and a helicopter!”.
- A very famous, powerful rabbi stopped at an inn and the owner was out, but the staff treated him terribly. The rabbi cursed the hotel and stated that it will burn down the following day at noon. The next morning the rabbi got up to leave and the owner, who was now back, begged and pleaded with him to remove the curse. The rabbi eventually agreed. The peasants were watching the inn to see what would happen and when noon came and went, and the inn did not burn down, everyone exclaimed “It’s a miracle!”.
I grew up culturally Christian and surrounded by soft-references to Christian stuff all the time. I try to see past whatever the literal thing they are saying and see the metaphor they are trying to express. People can have limited vocabulary and grow up in bubbles of their family, church, whatever. I try to give them Grace and just move on. Ultimately, they are trying to communicate a good thing with you. As long as they don’t start evangelizing or guilting, that’s different.
Yeah, you’re to blame for everything bad and God gets credit for everything good.
My mom showed me her list of answered prayers to prove prayer works. I looked at the list and it turns out I did most of that. If I’m doing all the work what do I need God for?
It’s God working through you. CHECKMATE /s
These scapegoat goalposts on wheels are the most frustrating part. And goddamn if it isn’t the biggest case of resulting I have ever seen.
HA! My X’s family of batshit crazy and dirt poor Fundies used to brag about how Gawd met all their needs. No. Actually, they just harassed their family and church members until someone gave in just to shut them up.
I just let it go if I know that the person is religious. I was pretty religious myself until I grew out of it in my mid 20s. So, I know why a religious person might say to thank their god. It is saying basically to thank some divine deity for giving you such talent. They mean well so I just take it like a compliment and nod if I were you. But i can see why you might be annoyed by it, especially if you did not have a religious upbringing.
